


Exploring

by imera



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Exploration, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-04 13:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1780387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imera/pseuds/imera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exploring a new planet isn't always easy with someone born in Aries</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exploring

**Author's Note:**

> The description of Aries made me think of Kirk, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered he actually is Aries.
> 
> Written for round #74 at prompt-in-a-box @ lj, prompt "Aries"

Bones watched Kirk as he sat slouched in his chair, an apple in one hand as he watched the map, trying to figure out the best route. Knowing his friend, Bones was certain the mission would not be easy. Spock was standing between them, giving advice as best as he could, even if he knew that in the end Kirk would do whatever he set his mind on.

“What about that area,” he asked and pointed at a few planets glowing red.

“As far as we know, there are a small chance of 26.95% of there being living creatures on the planet. Because of the gasses we will have to take oxygen masks with us, and there is a small chance of the planet being acidic, so we need our suits.”

Kirk looked deep in thought, scratching his jaw line. “I like those chances. Prepare the ship!” He jumped up and walked out of the room, not stopping when Bones called after him. He knew the mission would not end well, they never did, and then he had to save his friends life again.

*

The planet was close to what Spock said. They were required to wear masks because of the fumes, and they needed to watch their steps as the puddles were acidic. Kirk looked at his medical pack, wondering if he’d brought enough.

“What is this?!” Kirk asked, staring at a large brown plant, which could be a tree. Bones thought it looked rather ordinary, until he moved closer and noticed all the pink bubbles which stuck to the tree. Spock was about to find his equipment when Kirk did one thing he shouldn’t have, he touched the tree. Luckily, he was wearing his suit, but that didn’t make it any better.

Spock was the first to speak. “What are you doing, don’t you know-”

“I know the protocol, but I was curious.” Spock sighted, and Bones rolled his eyes, turning away from them as they were arguing about right and wrong.

As he stared at the strange planet, he thought he saw something move. It was large and black, and moved so fast through the thick forest he couldn’t see it properly. “Guys, I think something is out there,” he called back, breaking their argument --which seemed to be a requirement during every mission.

“What?” Kirk asked all excited.

“I don’t know, it was fast.”

“Maybe we should-” again Kirk interrupted Spock.

“No backup, what’s the fun with that?” Bones didn’t always agree with Spock, but as they didn’t know what kind of living creatures they might encounter, he would rather be safe. Kirk then did what he always did, pulled out his gun and quickly walked into the direction where Bones said he saw the creature.

“He’s going to risk the mission, again, for some fun, isn’t he?” Spock asked as he stopped next to Bones. He didn’t have to speak as they both knew the answer to the question. Pulling out their own guns they followed their captain, sending a call back to the spaceship to prepare men in case they needed backup.

The rest of the plants were as curious as te tree with the pink bubbles, but unlike Kirk, Bones did not want to touch them.

“Where do you think he disappeared to?” he asked Spock as Kirk was nowhere to be seen.

“He must have seen an opportunity to put this mission in jeopardy, again,” Spock joked. Bones released a sound halfway between laughter and a snort.

Spock wasn’t far away from the truth, as mere moments later they heard a loud cry. Nervously they looked at each other, knowing who the sounds belonged to. They were about to hurry through the alien forest when the ground shook beneath them. They didn’t have a chance to do anything as the ground continued to shake, and more screams reached their ears.

“What has he done now?” Bones asked, not expecting any reply for the Vulcan.

They ran through the thick forest, unable to see anything as the large leafs blocked their view. It was fortunately not a magical forest which would send them on a wild goose chase round and round until they gave up. The trees stopped close to a cliff. Moving to the end they looked into the direction of the screams, seeing Kirk riding on a large alien animal. The creature --which Bones thought looked like a mix of a bull and an ant-- was jumping up and down furiously, looking as if it was trying to kick Kirk off. He couldn’t hold back a laugh as seeing Kirk hold on to the horns was ridiculous.

“Well, you don’t see that every day,” Bones chuckled.

“Should we help him?” Spock asked a few seconds later as Kirk yelled for help.

“I suppose we must, he is after all our captain.” Bones was happy that Spock had finally loosened up, even if it happened rarer than he would have liked.

The two men found a small hill which made it possible for them to reach the bottom of the cliff. There they pulled out their guns and prepared themselves to attack the beast. Spock shot its leg, and instantly it turned towards them, forgetting all about the strange creature sitting on it. It prepared itself to attack, and instantly Bones had flashbacks of a scene which happened when he was young, where he and a couple of friends were able to annoy a large bull, which chased them through the woods until they were able to find a large rock.

“Kill it!” they heard as the animal attacked. Kirk, as far as Bones could see, was trying to hit it with it fists. Of course, the animal couldn’t feel any of it as its body was covered with thick and black plates.

Bones and Spock shot at it, but their weapons had no effect on the creature and it continued to rush towards them. The two men jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the sharp teeth of the beast as it was trying to bite them. It was Spock who discovered the creature’s weakness, telling Bones to aim between its eyes. Bones did his best, rolling out of the way, scrambling up to his feet, aiming, and then shooting the animal. His shots, combined with Spock’s, were all it took for the creature to shriek and fall over, its large body rolling around.

As the adrenaline of having shot such strange animal passed, Bones remembered Kirk. Spock and he ran towards the beast, trying to find their friend, who hopefully survived the fall. They found their friend lying under one of the eight legs of the creatures, trying to push it off.

“Help me,” he called when he noticed his two friends.

“I’m a doctor, not a crane,” Bones joked as he laughed.

“Well, then you better get me out of here because I think I got a concussion.”

“How can you be sure that is a concussion, it might simply be your brain trying to tell you just how stupid you’ve been.” Spock smiled, which was more than Bones could ask for.

“It’s tempting to return to the ship and tell them you were crushed to death by a leg.”

“You find my death funny?”

“If it was death by leg, then yes.” Bones couldn’t hold back a deep laughter which started in the deepest part of his gut. Kirk didn’t look amused at first, but slowly he joined in, and Spock simply walked away, shaking his head at their childish game.


End file.
